


tooth and nail

by bladeCleaner



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-03
Updated: 2013-07-28
Packaged: 2017-11-23 13:03:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/622420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bladeCleaner/pseuds/bladeCleaner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the timeline where John and Jade died, Rose Lalonde and the Black Queen, both with things they want to keep, strike their bargains. Plans fail to go smoothly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tooth and nail

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThinkingCAPSLOCK](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThinkingCAPSLOCK/gifts).



_She watches Rose crush another temple into rubble, casually, as if pouring tea. The explosion feeds green light to the air. What remains are tiny fragments that stick to her hair like glitter._

_Her tongue seems stuck on the right words._

_“You don’t play fair,” Jade finally settles on, squarely._

_Her violet eyes are cat-bright and probably twice as dangerous._

_“Did you expect to win a cheater’s game,” she laughs, “by following their rules?”_

\--

They have reason to be scared. These glittering, hard-shelled, obsidian pieces of the chessboard; they were taught to believe in royalty and they could not say no to her if she told them to. Which is in itself a comical paradox, but you take what you can get when you’re the newly awoken Princess of a violet-towered kingdom.

When she first came to, she tugged at the soft purple silk of her pajamas and the delicate daisy-cream lace of the Derse moon embroidered on the front. She then launched herself out the window without a second thought. Jade would have been proud, she thinks, as she stops her descent right before she hits the purple pavement and glides over the buildings in a smooth arc. A pedestrian finally looks up and spots her, blonde and pale against the black sky. Cries and shouts go up, “The Princess is awake!” “The Seer awakens!” 

She observes the crowd. Some look terrified. She thinks of Dave, still asleep in his own (figuratively)ivory tower. Perhaps these carapaced aliens, consorts of a sort in her dream land, take them to be a bad omen?

After she learned of John and Jade’s death, all she could think about was sleep. Dave is still awake, lips pulled in a grim line, watching over her in LOLAR. She can still see him in her mind’s eye, a gaunt boy with nothing left in him but silent fury and grief, gripping his sword and telling her to go sleep, _it’s alright, Lalonde, I’m the Knight, aren’t I?_

She wanted to take his hands into hers. He thought she didn’t notice the strength of which he was holding the hilt. She tries not to think about his brother(father? their father?) or their mother, or anything even beginning with a J splattered with blood. She wanted to say, _But you’re still just a kid._

She doesn’t know what Dave did after seeing John’s body and knowing Bro sacrificed himself to save him from his denizen. She knows, however, that there are probably more scars around his body than he will let her heal.

She snaps out of her reverie. They are still staring up at her, as if she will explode; she notices some discreetly trying to peel away from the crowd in the direction of a red carpet. With a pleasure she’d deny as distinctly predatory, she whips away enigmatically, only to settle behind a building and watch these four skitter away. The leader seems to be the one with the permanently angry expression and a sharp knife. A bumbling, cutesy little thing perches on the shoulder of a black hulk, giggling occasionally and whispering things in the ear of the tall brute. The one she observes with the most interest is the slightly taller one with the good, sturdy hat and a stealthy element to his movements she cannot help but admire professionally.

A distraction is exactly what she needs right now. The rest she can think about later(much later).

Unbeknownst to them, she follows. The red carpet seems to go on for miles and miles, the reality of its length inescapable.

Eventually, they approach a dark figure. She is sitting lazily on her throne; a breathtakingly beautiful Queen, even marred as she is. Rose notes the jester’s hat, striped tentacles and colourful garb-she looks oddly like all their sprites mixed together in a shining carapace exterior. The Queen fingers her four-orbed ring absently.

Rose notices the leader staring at her with some sort of bottomless hunger-lust? Envy? Either way, it’s malicious.

They all get down on their knees. “Your Majesty,” they murmur.

She waves one armour-plated arm dismissively. They get up.

“What news do you have for me?”

“Your Highness, the Princess has awoken,” the smooth one replies.

Her white eyes widen.

“Then the Prince is soon to follow. Court Droll-keep an eye on him. I want to know when he wakes up.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am!” He is elbowed in the gut until he says, much more sombrely, “I mean-yes, Your Highness.”

He skitters away, grinning like a child. She looks faintly amused.

“Your Highness? May I ask something?” the tall brute inquires nervously.

“Ask away, Brute.”

“…why are we still doing…all this? Prospit’s dreamers are all dead. The session is doomed.”

Her eyes turn laser sharp.

“Because we are still here, Brute. Doomed or not, the War marches on with or without the players. My husband is still on the Battlefield defeating every white warrior he can. Until the end comes, we fight. We complete our duties the best we can. The world spins on.”

“An admirable philosophy.” The three whirl around at the sound. Rose notes, impressed, that the Diamond-themed one has his pistol trained on her before she can say another word.

“Stand down, boys.” The Black Queen leans forward, eyes glinting with interest. “Princess Rose, Seer of Light. Welcome to Derse; we have been waiting for you a long time.”

She bows before the Queen. “Thank you. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty. Your kingdom is beautiful. I have to say the colour scheme is my style.”

She smiles.

“I’m glad you like it.”

She looks to the trio and says, “You are dismissed.”

“Your Maj-”

In one swift glance, the Brute is silenced. They shuffle off, the Dignitary looking at Rose suspiciously. She smirks, her lips cracking from the unfamiliar configuration. She hasn’t smiled for a long time. She looks back at the monarch, who has stood up in a rustle of multi-coloured skirts.

“Would you like to come in for some tea?”

She nods and thinks: _An armoured royal wearing jester’s clothes just offered me tea in dreamland. Lewis Carroll is chuckling in his grave somewhere, I am sure of it._

The Black Queen gestures for her to follow her into the Great Hall. She yanks a golden cord hanging to the right of the violet chandelier. Rose takes in the polished floors and the grand staircase with all the cynicism she can muster, though when a carapace arrives a second later she has to admit she’s a little wowed.

“Set up the balcony for brunch. Have the kitchen bring some tea and finger sandwiches.”

The servant bows and disappears into the shadows.

They climb up the stairs and move through a hallway of closed doors and elegant portraits. She sees the Black Queen rendered in flattering oils at the very end, though the actual one ushers her to go up another spiralling staircase.

They reach the top and the Black Queen slides open two glass doors. The balcony is a semicircle perched quite above Derse-not so that you can see the tops of buildings, but close. In the middle of it sits an amethyst glass table, translucent and glistening with Skaia’s light. The chairs are of a similar material. On the table, a lilac pot of tea, two cups and saucers and a plate of sandwiches sit, with its crusts cut off. A decorative glass vase with a white rose completes the scene.

They sit, the Queen pouring her tea gracefully. Rose casts her gaze over the violet towers.

“Your city really is beautiful.”

“Would you like a tour later?”

“That would be lovely.”

Rose watches the steam swirl upward from her porcelain cup and says, “Thank you. Your servants work extremely quick, I must say.”

“They’re hard workers. I’m grateful for their efficiency.”

“I’m sure your leadership skills are impeccable in encouraging that efficiency.”

“A Queen has her ways.”

Rose sips at her tea carefully. It’s not hot enough to scald and it goes down warm, relaxing her guard slightly.

“I’d wonder…”

The Queen raises her eyebrows.

“…whether you could use those ways to help me with a little favour.”

“I’m always happy to help fellow royalty. What is this favour?”

Rose thinks: _That was too easy._

She thinks: _She has to want something in return._

She thinks: _I can pay the price. Whatever it is._

She sets her cup down on the saucer with a little plink. “I’d like to get to Prospit without getting killed.”

The Black Queen doesn't even bat an eyelid. "Of course."

"...you don't want anything in return?"

She sets down her own cup and smiles. "I'm a Queen. I'm not in want for anything, except for work-it does get dreary when my husband is away. It won't be too hard, I think-here's what I propose..."

**Author's Note:**

> To be completed before the reveal!  
> (I HOPE.)


End file.
